School's Out Forever! (just kidding...for summer)

Soren stars singing "Schoools out...." and Darin and I automatically yell "for summer!..... Schooools Out Forever!" but then Soren finishes the song with "sing and shout, its our vacation!"  A little Twisted Sister/High School Musical round ensues. 

Monday - No School

Tuesday - Field Trip to Natural Curiosity Museum for Byron, regular day for the rest of us

Wednesday - Buy and Sell Day for Byron...but Soren was very much apart of this project and then Byron bought gifts for everyone, super sweet kid that he is.  

Thursday - Field Day for all!! Plus cold cereal party in Miriam's first class.

Boys in swim suits for the water party!

  We actually had cloud coverage most of the afternoon but the temps stayed really warm.  Then at 3:20 it started to rain, which was awesome because it cleared the kids off the party stuff and got them to go home.

Field day is a kids wonderland and teacher/parent nightmare. Things were super organized but 3 hours of dunk tanks, water slides, bounce houses, bubbles, and water games took every ounce of energy I had in me.  Too many screaming kids hyped up on snow cones for one afternoon.

I told Miriam to take photos of her big girl party so she humored me.

 Friday - Year book day! M went to brunch with a friend then went to her house to do pedicures, the boys signed yearbooks, ate popsicles, watched movies and lined the halls for the 6th grade clap out.

We ran to a neighborhood ice cream party



then came home to meet up with Jared Julia Tatum and Wyler who drove all the way up to watch Miriam's ballet recital.  We met G'ma and G'pa at Zupa's for dinner and then hit the recital.

 I did too much mingling with friends after the show and only snapped a photo of Wy-guy. Glad I snapped that one, but sad that I didn't get the others who came to support!

These guys have been working SO HARD this year and it has payed off.  I love how sweet Miriam's dancing friends are.

The next morning we went to breakfast with G'ma and G'pa then sent them off to do all their errands while we came home to do our chores so we could go on a hike with friends that afternoon.

Centerville Pictograph hike.  I took the boys on my own route so we ended up having to bush wack for a sec, which all the kids except for Fielding were not happy about.  Miriam was doubting my navigational skills....

But of course we made it!

There were these gorgeous tiny purple butterflies that wouldn't sit long enough for me to get a photo of but these beauties were good to be still.

Our women's hiking group starts up this week...same hike as above, we need something quick for the first time around.

May

We celebrated Darin's birthday FOR REALS last weekend (we had been doing family events on the real deal). There are no photos...boo, but I do want to document that we marked the occasion.  Darin and I went to a landscaping class for 3 1/2 hours on Saturday morning and then enjoyed a sushi lunch.  We have loved attending this class, which is FREE and so informative and since it was just the two of us we splurged on the good sushi.  We also took a family trip to the Natural History Museum...we were headed to Tracy Aviary but the rain chased us indoors. 

I needed to document some cute Mother's Day gifts as well...

I am helpful as a fox! It's hard to see but there is heart magnet up there as well.

Byron's Cub leaders helped them make and stain this box, the young women made the cute flowers together, and then Miriam's art class made a "family album".

Byron made another mothers day book in school, and both the kids made Mother's Day cards in Chinese

I really felt spoiled by all my kids teachers this year! Byron did mention to me that they might need some help with Father's Day since they wouldn't be in school.

I got to attend 1st grade field trip to the Treehouse Museum, not with Soren, with one of my students but his teacher was cute and put him in my group.  He got the staring role in the Golden Goose play.

He even got to marry the princess.

Ballroom has ended.  Such a fun year of dance and especially sad because Miriam is going to dance on a different team this year.  She loves the people on her teams...she will really miss them.

Soren had so much fun on his Pee Wee team. He was the smallest kid out there but he can totally keep up...that boy has rhythm.

Grandma and Grandpa came all the way up on Friday to see the show and then drove all the way back home for a family Memorial day picnic. Such a hard day for them, I felt bad that they came all this way, but it was so so so fun for Miriam and Soren to have an audience cheering for them.

We drove down to the Memorial Day celebration as well.  We met family in the cemetery and then went to my Grandpa's house for a BBQ Rib picnic.  It's always fun to visit my Grandma's grave and think about her....so good to see family we haven't seen in a while as well.

Attending the picnic meant we would be in the car for 5 hours on Saturday so we decided to do some adventuring on the way home.  We stopped at Huntington Reservoir over Huntington Canyon for a dinner picnic.  We skipped rocks over ice and water, walked around the lake and then flew the kite until the temps dropped and we ran to the car for warmth.

We got 2 family bike rides in, the yard worked on, car washed and waxed and met some friends for snow cones at the park.  So I would say the weekend was a success.

A Decade

Just after Darin hit his 4th decade, we celebrated having this guy in our lives for 1 decade. How lucky are we that we get to have him in our family?  I feel bad for people who don't get to hang out with Byron.  I seriously do, I feel bad for people who don't have Darin in their lives too, and the thing is....both of them kind of sit back and let themselves be overlooked so it takes a quality person to notice them.  See what I did there...I complimented myself twice because I married Darin and I helped create Byron.  I am going to go ahead and toot my own horn here because it's the truth. 

( I just realized what a weird saying that is because I wouldn't want to toot anyone else horn...slobber, gross.)

Byron woke up to bagels and chocolate dipped strawberries.  His big gift from us was getting to have a friend party but he had a birthday card from G'ma and G'pa Ray and a gift from Miriam and Soren to open.

M & S bought Byron a chance to swim with sting rays and sharks at Sea Quest.  So thoughtful, and I LOVE that they invested in an experience gift that they could do together. 

It was a tiny bit rainy but every since "ride your bike to school day" last week Byron has wanted to ride to school.  I love it too.  It's fun. It just takes me being "on task" in the mornings...thats rough.

He played with a friend after school, we ate Chicken Tikka Masala (requested) and then hit Menchies for dessert. 

Friend Party the next day, at Dartside.

My boys can't get enough of that place.

Miriam lovingly made Chess themed cupcakes and let me tell you they were DELICIOUS! I am trying to limit my sugar but I just couldn't resist the chocolate ones. So good.  I am going to have to keep Miriam out of the kitchen if I ever want to achieve my goals.

The happy 10 year old!

We love this kid to the moon and back.

Baptism, Blessing, Birthday and Mother's Day

We got to be a part of Wyler's baptism.  He is such a cute, enthusiastic kid. He beamed the entire morning, and giggled right before he was baptized. That kid knows how to enjoy life and he is the toughest little guy I know.

 Then darling Hazel was blessed by her dad. Just hours after blowing chunks all over Erik, they are both happy and content. I hope that is how all her life trials may be....momentary with a quick recovery.

Grandma and Grandpa's newest grandbaby.

My dad took us to Balance Rock Eatery for lunch. Such a cute place in downtown Helper.  

Darin got the Dagwood in honor of Grandpa Rasmussen who use to call him that as well as "Darwin" we shall never know if he was kidding or if he really couldn't remember his grand son-in-law's name.

Then we flew kites at the water basin walk path in gusty strong winds.

Darin flew that thing happily for 3 hours.  2 hours with kids and cousins and 1 hour just he and I together.  We found a shady spot to sit and just watched the kite blow around while we talked and laughed.  It was so relaxing and those are the moments our best conversations happen. I swear every time we fly a kite we wonder why we don't do it more often.

The boys found a mud hole in the middle of the water basin...and of course Soren "fell in"

They were happy as pigs in that little mud hole, but it was a different story while hosing them down.  That mud was more like clay. We almost had to scrape it off of them.

We heard 2 of the most real and sweet mothers day talks ever given by Grandmas in my parents ward the next day. I think the combination of years lived + not needing to impress anyone + actually knowing what it's like to be a mother and grandmother made the talks especially good. 

We ended the weekend with a Birthday/Mother's Day picnic at the DinoMine. Then we drove home to face the weekend laundry, and get ready for the upcoming week.

Right about dusk Soren opened his birthday gift from my parents so he and Byron and decided to go outside and play. They had the time of their lives sling shoting light up arrows in the sky...but of course that meant a trip up to the roof to retrieve a few.

One thing led to another....next thing you know we are all up on the roof for a Birthday/Mother's Day photo shoot.

There are a few more up there right now from yesterday's fun, but a freak rain/snow storm has kept anyone from getting up to get them.  I hope Soren's watermelon seed survives, luckily I hadn't planted my tomatoes yet!